Fighting isolates people in need of humanitarian aid

Widespread fighting in western, northern and eastern Liberia has been preventing humanitarian aid from reaching many of the people who need it most, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday. In a statement released in New York, OCHA also noted that aid agencies in Liberia feared the supplies they had would not be enough to meet growing needs. Fighting in the eastern part of the country had placed large numbers of civilians at risk, including Liberians - some of whom had suffered multiple displacement - refugees fleeing conflict in neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire and third-country nationals -- people transiting through Liberia to Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso, OCHA said. The affected areas include the northeastern county of Nimba which borders on Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea. The number and condition of needy people in Nimba were unknown, as access to the area had become impossible, OCHA said. There were also serious concerns over the security of humanitarian personnel, it said, adding that as a result of poor security and the frequent displacement of vulnerable populations, humanitarian workers unable to reach people in need in the worst affected areas. In the areas where access was possible, mainly near the capital, Monrovia, humanitarian agencies were running low on supplies. With the rainy season fast approaching and IDP numbers on the rise, UN humanitarian agencies and their non-governmental partners were trying to cope with shortages of shelter materials, OCHA noted. Shortages had also prompted the World Food Programme (WFP) to reduce food rations for April and May. Aid agencies feared these supply shortfalls would soon worsen because programmes aimed at providing food, shelter, emergency health, and human rights protection had not been funded by donors, OCHA said. It said only two percent of the US $42.6 million in funding requested in the 2003 UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Liberia had been donated. UN humanitarian agencies in Liberia have urged donors to enable them to assist vulnerable Liberians by urgently funding appeal, OCHA added.